A Gardeners Manual – A Quick Read For Your Garden Needs

A Quick Read For Your Garden Needs

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Build Your Garden | Small Farm | Soil | Plant

When you look at your garden and see it empty or dry , don’t loose heart. Get a vision for it and be encouraged. Make a plan for it and work it to the dream garden farm you would love to have.

Maybe like this.

Consider a mini farm or a raised bed garden like below. Or you can combine them with concrete benches and pathways made of stones or wood-chips.

Let’s start ground up and move fast up the value chain of gardening. Its a 30000 feet view but is a good guideline.
Irrespective of the soil type you have , the end result is to work it into a mix that has easy drainage , moisture retention, manure and good microbial activity, say humus and earthworms.
Let’s assume the soil is mixed with 1:1:1 red soil, mixed animal manure and broken down vegetable waste plus wood chips compost. If not get it done. Soil is the major investment for the best quality plant and farm. If you dont have red soil you can buy it cheap and work it into the area only where the plant goes. Else just use the soil you have and mix in the manure, compost, hay and wood chips.

Red Soil Garden soil

If you want to get started without a wait, you can dig up the places where you want to plant and mix in red soil and dry animal manure. If you have time also add dry grass clippings, wood chips, coconut tree chipped and leaves. It is the fast way to plant in and channel water to grow.

But if you want super soil. Add and mix all these in a step by step progressive manner, area by area and use trial and error to watch how your plants respond.

Red soil + Compost + Half measure river sand or Vermiculite , that helps in good drainage. Build up the soil with vermi-compost added in. Also make micro-homes for the earth worms and microbes, by adding in bio-char, granite fine granule powder or rock dust. Next add in wood chips of various sizes that breaks down under the soil, mixed in the soil as small pieces and as mulch on top to retain moisture and suppress weed growth. Use small piles or use 6 inch pvc pipes with many nail sized holes for earth worms to move in and out. Put in fresh veg waste matter into the pile, pvc pipe or keep a compost bin for food waste to break down with earth worms in it that are comfortable in soil compost bedding with dry straw and dry animal manure. Heap up food waste as it gets consumed into compost. Add the vermi-compost to the soil. Never add food waste to the planting area directly. Let it compost first. Get live earthworms to get the work done.
Now add in green manure which is any green matter from trees, grass cutting and such matter in small quantities to the soil. It breaks down to form manure, along with straw, wood chips and compost. Green manure has its unique influence on the soil and use fencing trees like Gliricidia, Neem fresh leaves as add in to the soil. Use beans and cow pea plants in empty areas for the same purpose. Raddish will act as auto soil tillers. Earthworms till soil too.
Leaves that fall from main plants will add up and help your soil as you develop. Make the foot path you walk on also a food channel by covering it with wood chips that you can get as waste from a lumber factory; it will let you walk dry and also breakdown becoming manure over a longer period of time.

For mixing a softerner to the soil for help to root and for moisture content you can use coconut coir, leaves and compost.

Just get started with the soil building and the rest will follow. Ideas and education too.

Coconut coir Vermicompost

Useful tools.

Small Rake Tool Set

You can arrange plants on large pots and garden beds if you like to invest more for a tidy garden.
Poly Grow-bagHDPE

Garden bed

You can buy mega pots made of cement, plastic , heavy fabric or even just cast it at home using concrete.

Next step is to get a regular water supply , either install a drip with a gravity tank or use hose pipe or employ a gardener to use water pots.
Then of course , buy the plants you need or seed them, some particular plants may need a different soil and water condition which you can change for its specific 3*3 feet area.
Generally for the overall garden-farm you can change the soil condition in the main root space , 5 feet radius for trees and 3 feet radius for plants as mentioned above.
Drip Timer

Hose Can

Natural pest control is the best. Grow a few chickens to feed in your garden and let them rid the pests and manure the soil with chicken poop manure. Use neem oil spray for leaves and neem cake fertilizer for the soil, which will deter most pests. Use Ditomaceous Earth around the plant top soil area to kill other crawling insects. Dust it on the leaves too as its just white powder of a rock that cuts the body of tiny insects as they step on it or eat it, and harmless to your pets, even if eaten.

Neem oil Ditomaceous Earth

Dont debate your mind away about the soil mix. Once the basic mix of red soil, sand , manure and compost is done, you can work in adequate measures of different adds ons as you keep building up the soil.
Get started.
Like already mentioned Bio char and rock dust not only provide a host home for all living essential soil microbes but also slow release minerals back to the soil.

Biochar Rock dust or get the dust waste from a rock crusher near your home. Tell them why you need it, they will give you the right kind and add only in traces till you are sure it works for you.

Make a compost bin with wire fence so that earth worms can move in freely. Use 6 inch PVC pipes of 4 feet length with holes all over its sides and food waste into it and let the worms from the soil come and dwell in it. Keep the area moist but not water logged.
Sample or buy a cheap fence wire type from a local hardware store and make a circle yourself.

Manure is best if it is natural vermicompost made of food waste, green clippings, wood chips, waste like paper, cardboard and coconut coir.
For a quick start just buy any manure from the nursery. Use neem cake to add on fertilizer and automatic pest repellent.
Quick minerals like Espom salt to seed weed extract can be used. In-between you have add on like chicken manure,

Seaweed Epsom

Neem fertilizer

Some helpers are trellis to support plants that climb or are weak. Use three bamboo sticks and make a tripod to support most plants, even cheap ropes at home made from coir can help last long. Else buy ready made online.

Trellis

Shade cloth of the size you may need

Build Your Balcony | Indoor Garden

Balconies near your bedroom , hall, verandah, wall side of the stairway are all opportunity for a plant to add natural color and life to your home or home-office. Table tops and any place where you have grills, hanging hooks and hand rails are places you can hang a plant. Here are some picture ideas for you to choose from and buy from amazon.

Rail Planter Rail Pot

Rectangle Hanging Hook

Mug Vertical Panel

Wall Pockets S Wall Bracket

Build Your Terrace Garden

As far as the plant is concerned if it got what we mentioned above it should be happy. So all we need do is find a way to provide an environment for the plants on a terrace setting. You need containers that can hold soil and drain well, pots, grow bags of all sizes, fabric bags, HDPE bags, wooden and plastic crates, old paint buckets , drums , wooden barrels , concrete moulded pots, brick arrangement and packing wooden crates. Give it the right soil mix as mentioned above with more of coconut coir and vermi-compost and you will do well. You may need shades if you are in the equator zone during summer, use shade cloth.

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